Windows 10 is broken! Time to look for a new OS?

Free up Windows 10 Disk Space with Compact OS

 

You can try FreeBSD or Linux but you'll probably find it's more effort than it's worth - assuming you need to use the newest versions of Office or Adobe suite etc. Sure, you can run *Nix as a host and Windows as a guest VM but if there are windows-only programs that you often need, it'll be a labour of love. WINE can be OK but sooner or later I've always found myself going back to Windows, since it's never been perfect. For web, office and leisure usage, this could be a credible option - I have one system running FreeBSD and it has been the most robust OS that I've used to date. GhostBSD and Linux Mint are both very accessible if you want to try them. Depending on the system, Hackintosh installs can be solid - but it varies a lot and I'd be wary of recommending it as system to be relied upon.

I give my vote to Win 8.1 with classic shell when it comes to compatibility and avoiding Win 10 weirdness.

 

I have a Windows 7 machine for the must run Windows only software. Myself there is no need for the 100% office compatibility. the fact is even the files I have are all Office 2003 compliant. My daughter is another deal.

Linux on the Samsung is a no brainer. Have done it multiple times. Just not sure if with that machine I should dump Windows all together.

I think the forced Cortana is the final straw and deal breaker, at least for me.

 

Still running Windows 7 on my Desktop and laptop and family computers. I'll wait for Windows 16 before making any upgrades.

 

Read http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/windows-10.762434/page-293#post-10303586

 

More reasons I will not go Windows 10 taking away my "MY" Control and thinking you can do better isn't my way of good computing no matter how you think it is MS.

 

Microsoft Faces Fresh Lawsuits Thanks To Overzealous Windows 10 Upgrade Campaign!!
Read more at http://hothardware.com/news/microso...ndows-10-upgrade-campaign#TyiHGIYri84QB8x6.99

 

Not too happy. Made a bootable Linux Mint USB but my new Nextbook will not boot the USB. Even with fast boot and form what I can see secure boot disabled. Apparently on a lot of newer systems they are not 100% UEEFI compliant with the boot and are locked into windows.

 

Try pulling the drive and installing via another system. That has worked for me in the past.

Also, if have haven't tried it, try booting that USB drive on a system that is proven to boot from USB devices. I have had that happen too. Some USB flash drives won't work right to boot from at all.

Will your Netbook pxeboot? You can do a netinstall via ethernet.
http://www.tecmint.com/installing-windows-7-over-pxe-network-boot-in-centos/
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744541(v=ws.10).aspx
http://www.ccboot.com/pxe-boot-windows.htm

 

It booted fine on my regular laptop. The Nextbook does not have a removable drive . I can get in UEFI to boot from file but in looking at the drive there were no actual files listed.

 

I was going to give several or two suggestions.

1. Supposedly there is a massive patch due out in the next month or so, some sort of anniv. patch that is big (probably the equiv to what we once referred to as a service pack, what ms now calls late stage Beta Update - ha ha). But on serious side, supposedly is going to fix many issues. Sadly I don't think laptops will get much relief.

2. The best way to claim your free copy but keep Win 7 going, is to buy either a removeable drive bay (so you can either store 2 drives in their own bay enclosures and put whichever os in you want - something like things sold by Vantec - off the top of my head where you can buy either an internally 5 1/4 bay that allows you to put in different HD or a system that includes separate kit for each drive that is then protected in its own shell like device that you insert into the bay). I have been doing this since Windows XP. It has allowed me to keep the good OS up and running on its own drive (no dual booting foolishness) and dump the crappy OS's or beta quality OS onto their own drive where I can see how bad things are (WindowsME, Windows Vista, Windows 10 Freebie universal beta version to reduce QA cost).

I can even under option 2, run a third drive (actually as many hard drives as I want or can afford) where if I need to find out something that is on a site that I am not sure is free of the fun things like malware or virus, I can use that drive to test, or test program installs before putting them on my good drives or changes to the system (please be aware this could be a questionable action, however I have spoke to MS on my case and situation and they said for me, they don't see it being a major legal issue - however you have to speak to MS or other legal advice as I do not want to advocate anything illegal or questionable on this site). Just do not share the drive to someone who has a comp like yours or run both drives at once as they will be direct violations. Anyhow, by doing this I have major flexibility and can run xp, 7, 10 on different drives reducing complications or being stuck with a bad or still in open beta testing (I call things open beta when the company finds it easier to push the product out and have all users serve as beta testers, saving them the cost of getting a large enough beta testing group).

With that I don't have to worry about any limitations from a virtual program. Just still remember you need to keep security software up to date and something that is strong, when you are using it to test software or visit a site that for example says it has a tech solution to your issue, but either siteadvisor or Norton say it is not or questionable or its name doesn't sound like a tech forum.

My desktop is old in terms of my normal upgrade cycle. A Z68 mobo with Sandy Bridge 2600k and 8gb ram w/770 GTX and a 3tb and 2tb drive (so circa 2011). I grabbed a new 2tb wd caviar - black, and put Win 10 on it. Suprisingly the install was much smoother than it had been on my laptop or a system with a Z7x series chipset running Ivy Bridge cpu and it found drivers for some of the hardware that Asus or other companies licensed to Asus will not be providing Win 10 drivers for.

 

I have run into situations where one USB drive won't boot on a system, while it will boot on others, so I have to find a USB drive that works.

These seem to work on many systems, while some cheap Kingstons, Sandisk, and other minor brands wouldn't:

Patriot Stellar Series 16GB OTG USB 3.0 External Storage For Android Smartphones/ Tablets- PSF16GSTROTG

Patriot Stellar Series 32GB OTG USB 3.0 External Storage For Android Smartphones/ Tablets- PSF32GSTROTG

Patriot Stellar Series 64GB OTG USB 3.0 External Storage For Android Smartphones/ Tablets- PSF64GSTROTG

I keep them as my golden bullets

When you google about usb flash booting on your specific Netbook model, look for what make / model / size they are using, and try to pick up one of those.

What about pxeboot network install, is that supported in your BIOS?

 

I have two recent lexar media (now owned by Micron) 3.0 usb (don't think 3.1/c versions) that ironically have issues running off the mobo usb 3.0 ports unless I plug them into a Belkin USB 3 hub. Weird. It is both usb 3.0 ports on the mobo, all the ports on the back with the hub it works fine on. PNY I have noticed doesn't always launch the autolaunch, especially some of the usb 2.0 ones.

 

I used the 64 bit iso and then the "boot from file" let me find a bunch of .EFI files. I tried several of them and they continually booted into windows. It see's the thumb drive it just refuses too boot. So far this seems to be a known issue.

No kind of network boot/install either. The UEFI only shows Windows 10 or recovery. Supposedly this is how it is locked up, they instead of booting to the UEFI device do so by the OS name and this is not the standard.

Edit; Easy BCD and plop is not an option either as the EFI can't be disabled either.